German unemployment rate falls to record low of 6.5 per cent in December

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Jessica Morris

German's jobless rate has fallen to a record-low (Source: Getty)

Germany's jobless rate fell for the fourth-month straight, taking it to an all-time low, in another sign that the Eurozone's largest economy is strengthening.

It fell to 6.5 percent in December, or the lowest level since the country reunified in 1990. The number of people out of work fell to 9,000 to 2.84 million on a seasonally adjusted basis, data released today by the Labour Office showed.

"A strong German labour market, combined with lower energy prices is providing the consumer the confidence and will to spend," said Dean Popplewell, vice president of currency analysis and research at Oanda.

While Germany narrowly avoided falling into recession last year, since then its economy has gone from strength to strength, and yesterday the government revised its growth outlook for this year to 1.5 per cent, up from an earlier estimate of just 1.3 per cent.

Nonetheless, today's figure shows the "star economy" is pushing further away from the rest of its peers, with the Eurozone unemployment rate currently languishing at 11.5 per cent.